Well, I guess the IRL figured out that street courses can produce exciting racing and bring in good crowds. Hmm…who’se been doing that since its inception? Oh right, we have!! They have figured out that our formula works and now are dead set on re-creating it. Good luck. What’s that saying…often imitated, never duplicated?

Props go to the guy who flew the banner “bring back Champ Cars” during the race. Funny stuff. Oh, and a Honda sponsored event that finished with four Hondas at the top??? Remember what I wrote earlier about Honda?

Alright, enough about those guys. Champ Car is in Long Beach this weekend and it’s gearing up to be a great event. I picked Tracy to repeat, cause nobody knows those streets better than him. But, my darkhorse pick will be Justin Wilson, of RuSport. Last year, in his first ever Champ Car race at Long Beach, he managed to put the car in 6th place. Considering that he kept stalling the car on Friday, that’s pretty darn good. I think with Rusport, he’s going to excel this year. He’s going to see his F1 buddies as well as his F3000 buddies and will want to prove to them that he’s the MAN!

Da Matta could surprise, but it’s going to be a challenge for him. Simply because he’s used to a Toyota powered car and using his tiny weight to his advantage. No more. The cars must be a certain minimum weight, including the driver who gets weighed at the beginning of the season.

I was reading the rule book last night and noticed that a driver gets weighed at the beginning of the season, and could POTENTIALLY get weighed again throughout the season, but not necessarily. So, if I was a driver (and this is probably why I’m not) I would put on a hundred pounds going into Long Beach. Sacrifice Long Beach with an overweight car, then drop 100 pounds before Monterey. They have 5 weeks inbetween races. Surely an Atkins diet can shed 100 pounds in 5 weeks? Maybe Champ Car officials would notice the weight loss and weigh you again. But maybe not. Advantage GAGNON!!

Alright, I gots some packing to do, I gots some notes to take and documents to read before this glorious event that is about to be upon us. I will try and write something over the weekend, but I can’t make any promises. If anything, I’ll write something down on Saturday. Once the starting grid is set, then we can talk about it.

Enjoy the race and remember:

Champ Car Baby! Champ Car for life!

gettin' crazy!

I’ve been so busy lately getting ready for Long Beach. I am filled with excitement to get the season underway, but I am also very anxious because of Overheard. I can’t wait to produce the feature, but its going to be a lot of work (since I’m alone) and I hope that I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew. I don’t think I have and I will make time to produce the features all the while chat it up with good old Bruce.

I really liked working with Bruce last year, as well as Terry. I think Bruce and I work well together cause we both bring something to the table. His years of experience cannot be taught and is invaluable and if you know Bruce, you know he’s always got a one-liner or a zinger waiting for you. I think with my youthful enthusiasm (not that I’m young, but young to the circuit) and wide-eye curiosity, we make a very good pair.

Bruce was the first person I worked with last year in Long Beach. Long Beach is not an easy event to PA, on account that so much is happening at all times it can get a little overwhelming. But Bruce was so kind last year and took me through it and really made me feel welcome, which is more than I could have asked for.

Likely my favorite moment of Long Beach in 2004 was when it was all said and done, we sat around our booth, Dan, Terry, Bruce and myself, had a couple of well-deserved beers and I just listened as they swapped stories of their past experiences. It was really a nice moment. Made me feel like I was part of their team, which has been intact for so many years.

I am going to try and make my way to Bubba Gump’s on Thursday where I understand the boys will be. Unfortunately I am very allergic to seafood, so my visit won’t be long. But I will try and say hello to them and listen to more of their stories!

Champ Car Baby! Champ Car for life!

No title!

Caught the Champ Car season preview show on Speed yesterday. It was well done. It was very simply done. Rick introducing the clips, the clips, Rick introducing the next clip. I liked the interview clips they used. I felt that the drivers were truly expressing who they are and what they are planning on doing. I guess the word I am looking for is candid. They didn’t just spew the usual jargon that’s associated with those types of interviews and I give credit to the interviewer for asking good questions.

It must be fun to be Robin Miller. It truly must be. He can say anything he wants and still gets work. This isn’t criticism. On the contrary, it’s a compliment. He can get away with speaking his mind, while 95 percent of journalists can’t. I watched him give his opinion on the upcoming Champ Car season, give us the odds and all that. Then, a couple of hours later, on the same channel, I watched him praise the IRL and their performance so far at St Petersburg. Of course, he is part of the Speed network and will go wherever they tell him. Nevertheless, wherever he happens to be, if he doesn’t like a certain aspect, he’ll report it and Speed will take it in as news. It still strange to see him praise the IRL, then go to champcarworldseries.com and read his article on our series. Not too sure how I feel about that. But he does know his motorsports and that’s the bottom line. I look forward to bugging him this year with my camera all season long!

I wanted to write about the IRL in St Petersburg here today, but TSN is airing it at midnight tonight. Its good to see TSN treat the IRL as poorly as they do Champ Car. Although the schedule they put out this year is an improvement over the last couple of years. Plus, they have the Paul Tracy ‘Sportscenter’ ad, which is very very cool. It’s much better than the other two basketball-related spots. And I’m not saying that as a Tracy fan, but as an observation from a casual viewer.

The crash fest that is Bristol is just about to get under way. Say what you want about NASCAR, but it’s these races that have put it on the map. Imagine that many cars on such a short track. It’s a recipe for disaster and people eat it up. They do it right with their commercials too. You have to give them that much. I was happy to see the Paul Tracy ‘circus’ commercial. These are the types of commercials Champ Car needs to be putting out. It’s a good start. If we can borrow anything from NASCAR, it has to be their production. They know tv and they usually do it right. The sport couldn’t have become so popular simply based on 43 cars turning left. Could it?

Greg Biffle just said that Open wheel is too dangerous. Interesting observation there.

Nice to see Jay Leno push the Grand Prix of Long Beach on his show last week when promoting Paul Newman’s appearance on Friday. It looks like it’s going to be a real entertaining segment and will be GREAT for the series and the Grand Prix. Hmmm, I wonder if Champ Car will need a cameraman to film footage to use on the website? I gotta score me a spot on that roster!

p.s. I won’t do this too often. But I just picked up the Blind Boys of Alabama’s Atom Bomb and the song “demons”, borrowed from FatBoy Slim could very well be the best song ever covered. Check it out if you get a chance.

Champ Car Baby! Champ Car for life!